Atelier Lulua Returns To A Victorian Style With Focus On Facial Expressions

Mel Kishida worked as the character designer for the original Arland games and he’s back for its fourth installment in Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland. This week’s issue of Famitsu magazine has info on a couple new characters including Piana who has grown up quite a bit since her appearance in Atelier Totori. [Thanks, Ryokutya2089.]

• In Atelier Lulua we’ll meet Piana as a grown up, and she’s actually Lulua’s master.

• Christophe Aurel Arland is the name of “that person’s” son. He is in training to surpass a certain man. He has a cool personality, but goes out of his way to help others in trouble.

• Piana and Christophe’s ages are currently unknown.

The following are quotes from an interview with character designer Mel Kishida and producer Junzo Hosoi:

• Junzo Hosoi: “Talks about doing a fourth title for Arland began sometime around last December’s [Atelier] Festival.”

• Mel Kishida: “Rorona’s age is… she was 33 in Atelier Meruru, so let’s just not go there! [laughs]”

• Mel Kishida: “Atelier Lulua takes us back to that Victorian era feeling after going through a bit of the Middle Ages.”

• Mel Kishida: “Piana is a sensible person, and this time she’ll take on more of a teacher’s role.”

• Mel Kishida: “When designing Aurel, a certain someone’s hair color and such did cross my mind, but it wasn’t strongly influenced by it.”

• Junzo Hosoi: “We’re putting a lot of focus into facial expressions for the characters.”

• Junzo Hosoi: “I believe that most of the characters everyone wants to see from past titles will be in there.”

• Mel Kishida: “You can’t just have Rorona and not that person, so…”

Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland releases in Japan in 2019 for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. It’ll release in the West in Spring 2019 for PS4, Switch, and PC.